How to Choose a New Computer- A Guide to Choosing the Right Computer in a Sea of Confusing Numbers and Letters

If you have ever purchased a new computer from any retailer, whether it be online or brick and mortar, you know how difficult and time consuming it can be to choose the "right" one for you. In this article I will show you a few simple steps that can have you on your way to getting the right computer for you.


Know how you use your computer
The first step in buying a new computer is knowing how you will use it. If you are like most users in the world you are going to use your computer for simple tasks like: web browsing, simple word processing, and watching a movie or 2 online. Now you might be thinking "I do way more than that on my computer...." rest assured we will get to you in a second. For the users out there that fall into the category I just described, lets continue.

Understanding what you need
For the majority of you this is quite simple. I recommend the following when it comes to hardware on your computer whether it be a laptop or desktop computer.
> Dual Core Processor 1.6 GHz or more- When you are doing simple tasks there is no need to have that Quad Core monster CPU it is way overkill and you are going to be paying more for something you don't need.
> 2 - 4 GB of RAM- If you are multi-tasking user that loves to hop from application to application I definitely staying on the higher side of 4GB. RAM allows your computer to store more information on a faster version of storage known as RAM or Random Access Memory.
> 320 GB Hard Drive- This size is enough space to store a lot of stuff. If you need more for storing all those family memories then get an external hard drive. External Hard Drives allow for storage to be there when you need it and stored safely away when you don't.

For the basic user these are the only 3 things that you really need to be concerned with. Everything else on the computer is secondary to these 3 things.

How to understand those pesky computer specs on the box
Some of you may know the pain that it can be to just read the specs off the box of a computer let alone try and match it to your requirements. Take a look at Screenshot A below to see what you should look out for.

Screenshot A

Screenshot B

1. CPU- Normally there will be a reference to whether a CPU is dual core or quad core right on the label. In this case there isn't. Now in order to figure out if the CPU is dual or quad a simple Google search can find out the info you need. Lets say you were searching for this computer's CPU type. You would search "Intel Atom N270 Specs". Generally speaking this will bring up the manufacturers website within the first 2 hits on Google. See Screenshot B. To see what type the CPU is you will need to click the link and go to there page. The line you are looking for is "# of cores". In this case it is a single core processor.

 2. RAM- This section is pretty self explanatory. You will only need to worry about the first portion "1 GB". The second portion "DDR2" refers to the type of RAM that it is. For these purposes it does not matter what type it is and in most cases it is going to be DDR2 or DDR3. If for some reason it is just plain DDR then I would suggest moving on. DDR is much slower RAM then DDR2 or DDR3.

3. Storage/ HDD/ Hard Drive Size- This can be listed a couple different ways. I have listed the top 3 that you will encounter. Remember from above that the lowest that we want is 320 GB. This computer only has 160 GB. By all accounts the computer I have pictured has not met the minimum spec requirements for this how to and would not be suitable for the average user. In this case it is the box to an Acer Netbook from about 4 years ago. Netbooks are designed for light usage on the go and not much more than that.

That's it folks! Good luck with your shopping experience. If you are that user from above that wants to use your computer for more advanced things keep reading.

Moderate User's Simple Guide to Buying a New PC

So you are a little more advanced user that maybe likes to use some different applications other than the traditional web browser. Maybe you like to play games? Or some kind of photo editing software? At any rate there is one simple tip that can help you find the right computer for you. It might even fall into the category above!

> Checking the Minimum/ Recommended System Requirements for Your Application
Now what does that mean you might ask? When a manufacturer creates an application of any kind they generally will create a Minimum System Requirements document to go along with it. This document can be quite helpful when trying to figure out if it will work with your new computer. Now in some instances there is a secondary document known as the Recommended System Requirements. What is the difference? The difference between the two documents is as follows.

Minimum System Requirements- The hardware and software components of a computer system that are required to install and use software efficiently. Webopedia

Recommended System Requirements- What the manufacturer recommends for the application to run at its full capability.

Now sometimes only the Minimum Requirements are available in those cases just use the info you have available to you. If both documents are available I recommend using the latter of the documents to help you decide on your computer. Some Examples of what these can look like are below. Most of the time the System Requirements are written on the side of the box of the application in question however if you can't find them a simple Google search will generally yield the results that you need. An example search would look like this where you would replace (application name) with the name of the application you are searching.

"(application name) recommended system requirements"

iTunes System Requirements

Photoshop System Requirements

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